Switzerland - The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Monday announced that they had extended the bans on two Maltese football players.

Ryan Grech, Malta international Claude Mattocks and Gilbert Martin tested positive for various prohibited substances and were banned for nine months, four months and a year respectively.

Football's controlling body FIFA, as well as the world anti-doping agency WADA appealed to CAS and asked for the bans to be extended to two years.

CAS said in a statement on Monday that they had partially upheld the appeal.

Valetta, Malta  - Police and military clashed Friday with migrants at two detention centres in Malta, officials said.

The rioting broke out after an illegal immigrant fell from a window at one of the detention centres.

The man was taken to hospital where his condition was not immediately known.

As news of the incident spread, detainees at another centre also rampaged, the officials of the Mediterranean island-state said.

Firefighters intervened to put out a blaze allegedly started by the rioters in one of the centre's dormitories.

Valletta, Malta  - A group of 260 would-be illegal immigrants landed in Malta Sunday morning, one of the largest-ever groups to reach the Mediterranean island.

Witnesses said the immigrants, including two young girls and a pregnant woman, were "packed like sardines" on a large fishing boat.

Police on the scene said the migrants claimed they had left from Libya and they originated from various African countries. Unusually, there were also 12 Kurdish people on board. The immigrants said they had been on the boat for two days.

Valletta, Malta  - An Ethiopian Airlines jet with 187 passengers on board on Sunday made an emergency landing in Malta after one of its engines failed.

Valletta, Malta- Malta became Wednesday the site of the world's
first purpose-built research and production facility for the ePassport,
or biometric passport, which is increasingly required by countries for
security reasons.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi officiated at the inauguration of the
six million euro (7.7 million dollar) plant built by the British- based
De La Rue company, adjacent to the large banknote printing facility it
already operates on the small Mediterranean island.

The new 2,600 square metre building will print and assemble
machine-readable and biometric passports. It is expected to produce two

Valletta, Malta  - The foreign ministers of Italy, Libya and Malta are to meet on December 5 to discuss illegal immigration and oil exploration in the waters between the three countries, it was stated Monday.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini and Libyan Foreign Minister Abdurrahman Mohamed Shalgem will be meeting in Malta at the invitation of Foreign Minister Tonio Borg.

Borg told Parliament Monday this was the first time that concrete proposals had been made on the delineation of the waters for oil exploration purposes.